Three of the judgments that we will consider are yet future. However, today, we begin with a judgment that is past – the sin of man. Today’s text declares that justified ones (5:1) are freed from the guilt of sin and secure from the punishment for it. In light of this marvelous truth, we have the utmost reason to rejoice and be glad. On the basis of our connection to Christ, there is now no condemnation. There was condemnation as long as we were in Adam (5:12-19), but now we are in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and, therefore, as free from condemnation as He is.
This judgment is past; it occurred when Christ died on the Cross at a place called Calvary – “the place of a skull” (Mk. 15:22). The Judge was God the Father – “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21), and the Person judged was Christ as our Sin-Bearer – “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust…” (1 Pet. 3:18). God the Father laid our sin on Christ. He was the Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29) “which taketh away the sin of the world.” He is the propitiation (the wrath-appeasing sacrifice) for not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2). The result of this judgment was the death of Christ (1 Cor. 15:3) and the justification of the believer (Rom. 3:24, 28). Now, whosoever will may come. God is not “willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9) is the message of grace. John 5:24 declares the wondrous truth that “he that heareth my [Christ’s] word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
This judgment is past; it occurred when Christ died on the Cross at a place called Calvary – “the place of a skull” (Mk. 15:22). The Judge was God the Father – “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21), and the Person judged was Christ as our Sin-Bearer – “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust…” (1 Pet. 3:18). God the Father laid our sin on Christ. He was the Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29) “which taketh away the sin of the world.” He is the propitiation (the wrath-appeasing sacrifice) for not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2). The result of this judgment was the death of Christ (1 Cor. 15:3) and the justification of the believer (Rom. 3:24, 28). Now, whosoever will may come. God is not “willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9) is the message of grace. John 5:24 declares the wondrous truth that “he that heareth my [Christ’s] word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”